free dining rumor!

[d23cndrela]

So from what I can gather, the phones at CRO get pretty jammed with everyone trying to call at the same time to book Free Dining reservations.... with that said, what number does everyone use? The regular 407-WDISNEY number or is there an 800 number? (so you don't burn *all* your minutes on your cell!) With my being in the midwest, getting up at 5:00 a.m. to hold for an hour and a half could get interesting.....

Well Let me start By Saying Yay 200th Post! Ok i'm better now.

Last year at 7am i started calling the 407wdisney number. after being on hold for 20 min I made my brother call the 1800 # . While we both waited another 20 min or so they did pick up on my brothers line first. So I guess it does not always go inorder that the calls were made! I' m sorry but i dont have the 1800 # with me here at work. If no one else posts it before i get home i will PM it to you. Hope that helps.

 

[JLKennedy]

I log on to my visa rewards once a week, just to monitor things. So I knew of the free dining as soon as it was released. We've booked WL with Dxddp so I'm hoping for a credit of the difference if it is free basic. We'll be there the 6-13 of Sept.

 

[brad3640]

SO hoping for free dining so we will be able to go!!

 

[tinkerdee]

This is my first post. My family, me, DH, DD 13 and DD 12 are going 8/21-8/31/08 and are staying at the Contemporary. We are hoping for free dining but what if they offer it after the 21st, can we still use it for the remainder of our vacation? Thanks....

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

You will have to make two reservations. One for the time before and one for the time after. You will need at least a one day park ticket for the free DDP part of your reservations. And you'll need park tickets for the first part of your vacation too.

 

[tinkerdee]

Thanks, that's what I thought. Do a lot of people really cancel and rebook? This is all so new to us, we have been to Disney, but never with a code or free dining or anything. I am still hopeful, are they still sending out pin codes for discounts?

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

They are still sending postcards & email as some have reported still getting them.

Yes, many of us have rebooked to get the free dining. In 2006 we had reservation made in January for WL, when free dining was announced our TA had to give us a new reservation number. But our ADRs were attached to our phone number, so those did not need to be changed.

 

[Lil'DisneyMom]

Crap... I just thought of something.. IF I need to rebook and they can't just adjust my current reservation, will I loose all of my ADRs??

 

[Tine731]

Crap... I just thought of something.. IF I need to rebook and they can't just adjust my current reservation, will I loose all of my ADRs??

No. Your ADR's will be fine.

 

[sammi6]

Hoping for Free Dining, I have the bounce back, but I have family and friends that are hoping to go.

 

[Mick00]

If free dining is offered and i need to rebook do I lose my deposit I have already paid?

 

[jerseygal]

If for those of us that have exisiting reservations, "if" free dining is offered AND Disney makes us cancel original reservation and rebook, original deposit will be credited, new reservation will be set up with new credit card deposit...It would be so much easier if the rate is applicable to the exisiting reservation, to Disney to credit the folks that already have an exisiting dining plan INSTEAD OF REQUIRING A NEW RESERVATION.

Thats my thought on the free dining option. All of this is IFS DEPENDING UPON WHEN AND IF FREE DINING IS OFFERED...I called twice this morning..one reservation person said free dining will definately not be offered this yr and the other said they don't have any advance infor until the morning that they come in and "all lines are going crazy".

 

[gwtw428]

Since Free Dining is offered to Disney Visa Card Holders first, is there a possibility that it will "sell out" by the time it is offered to the public?
Is there a set amount of free dining offers?

 

[n2mm]

Since Free Dining is offered to Disney Visa Card Holders first, is there a possibility that it will "sell out" by the time it is offered to the public?
Is there a set amount of free dining offers?

It never has. There will be alot of cancelling of reservations, moving, upgrading and after the dust settles, there will be different availability, so if you don't get what you want, you should still keep trying.

 

[sammi6]

Since Free Dining is offered to Disney Visa Card Holders first, is there a possibility that it will "sell out" by the time it is offered to the public?
Is there a set amount of free dining offers?

It is my understanding that a certain amount of rooms are set aside at each resort for the promotion. Not every resort will be available either, it is not known which resorts are available until the promotion starts.

 

[d23cndrela]

Since Free Dining is offered to Disney Visa Card Holders first, is there a possibility that it will "sell out" by the time it is offered to the public?
Is there a set amount of free dining offers?

It has yet to sell out to the Via holders. Sometimes you have to change your first choice to a different hotel. I hope that helps.

 

[stoudt6]

Hopefully this turns out to be wrong, but I was told by CM that Free Dining will only be offered for Deluxe Resorts. We went last year during Free Dining , but DW just got a new job starting Mid-May so are Squeezing a trip in Apr 30-May 7th. Due to it being last minute and regular season I booked Pop Century. When i told CM will miss going in September(when we usually go) and that we got Free dining she said " you wouldn't be able to get it in a Value resort". i asked her to elaborate and she said the response from the bounce back and UK Free dining was so good that they are only doing it for Deluxe Resorts because they are at least capacity during September value season.Guess we'll see

 

[n2mm]

Hopefully this turns out to be wrong, but I was told by CM that Free Dining will only be offered for Deluxe Resorts. We went last year during Free Dining , but DW just got a new job starting Mid-May so are Squeezing a trip in Apr 30-May 7th. Due to it being last minute and regular season I booked Pop Century. When i told CM will miss going in September(when we usually go) and that we got Free dining she said " you wouldn't be able to get it in a Value resort". i asked her to elaborate and she said the response from the bounce back and UK Free dining was so good that they are only doing it for Deluxe Resorts because they are at least capacity during September value season.Guess we'll see

Thanks for posting. I love to hear the CMs thoughts on some of the promotions. One thing about Disney is that they always keep us guessing. The next couple of weeks will be filled with these scenarios. At least it's entertaining while the wait is on. But nothing surprises me anymore.

 

[pinkerbell]

yes it is entertaining..

so I was left wondering this from the cm's comment...
How could the bounceback from the UK on values have been so good, my understanding is it wasn't even offered to them.

I also don't think the response was that great during the bounceback... I was there when they extended the offer past the original date,

I can't imagine they would have done that with a poor response?? Especially since so many peole post they didn't even know the promotion was going on

ahhh... only time will tell...

 

[esdras]

Hopefully this turns out to be wrong, but I was told by CM that Free Dining will only be offered for Deluxe Resorts. We went last year during Free Dining , but DW just got a new job starting Mid-May so are Squeezing a trip in Apr 30-May 7th. Due to it being last minute and regular season I booked Pop Century. When i told CM will miss going in September(when we usually go) and that we got Free dining she said " you wouldn't be able to get it in a Value resort". i asked her to elaborate and she said the response from the bounce back and UK Free dining was so good that they are only doing it for Deluxe Resorts because they are at least capacity during September value season.Guess we'll see

Sorry, but I'm suspecting that the CM was mistaken - or worse.

I have just been to the Disney online reservations, and have done a six night stay for every week (with Saturday arrival dates) in August and September. A relatively good way to measure just how busy the Value resorts are is to see if you can get a Family Suite - as there are only a couple of hundred of those total, and they are still very popular.

The first two Saturdays in August have no available Family Suites - not surprising since almost all the schools in the U.S. and Canada are still on summer vacation.

Starting on Saturday August 16, and EVERY Saturday in September right up to when Free Dining would likely end, the Family Suites were available for a six night stay on every one of my inquiries. Of course, a very large number of schools in the U.S. start back on August 18.

Now, I can't know this for certain, but if the Family Suites are easily available (apparently - I think this has been mentioned in some threads, some people are still getting AAA or using PIN code discounts on them for September) then I highly doubt that the Values are at capacity for late August and September.

Remember the great words of wisdom soothingly written upon the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

DON'T PANIC